Fox News fires Tucker Carlson, its most influential anchor

Washington,

Fox News, the conservative channel, created a surprise on Monday afternoon by announcing that Tucker Carlson had left the air and was no longer hosting his daily show Tucker Carlson Tonight, which airs live every night at 8 p.m.

Followed by more than 3 million spectators, Carlson was one of the most influential figures in conservative circles, helping to orient the debates, at the same time as a virulent critic of the Democratic administration. During his last show last Friday, Carlson had, like every weekend, given viewers an appointment for Monday. Fox announced in a statement that this show was the last. Rebranded as "Fox News Tonight", its time slot will be hosted on rotation by other network personalities until a new host is appointed.

The sudden departure of Tucker Carlson was a shock, as the host occupied an important place within the Republican Party. Hugely popular in the conservative electorate, Carlson appeared as a kingmaker, capable of giving national notoriety to little-known candidates or personalities, or of imposing his views in debates. His show, Carlson Tonight, was launched in 2017 after the forced resignation of another conservative host, Bill O'Reilly.

Carlson, like many American political animators, practiced more controversy than journalism, almost exclusively giving the floor to guests defending his own opinions. The bulk of his show consisted of long monologues delivered with theatrical emphasis, and rants against Democrats and the Biden administration. Sowing doubt against vaccines, on the reality of the riot of January 6, 2021 against the Capitol, or on the merits of American aid to Ukraine, which earned him frequent quotes in the media Russians, Carlson practiced as an art the innuendo and the insinuation. Mocking, sometimes funny, often bitter, Tucker Carlson was skeptical of the official versions as soon as they came from the American authorities, willingly fueling various conspiracy theories in peals of laughter.

Without knowing the exact reasons for his dismissal, it is likely that he is linked to the Dominion scandal, which cost Fox News the colossal sum of 787.5 million dollars to avoid a defamation lawsuit. Dominion Voting Systems, which sells voting machines and software, accused the channel of knowingly and deliberately lying in the weeks following the 2020 presidential election by blaming voting machines at length. vote Dominion, for contributing to the election of Joe Biden by defrauding the results.

At the last minute, Fox preferred to pay Dominion rather than have a public trial reveal its internal decisions, and oblige its star animators, but also its owner, Rupert Murdoch, to testify under oath.

In the weeks that preceded, internal Fox documents, including emails and text messages exchanged at the time between the channel's management and the main hosts, had been published. They had revealed how top Fox stars, including Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, knowingly echoed voter fraud allegations floated by Donald Trump and his aides, lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, knowing full well that they had no basis.

Carlson notably wrote in a message that he hated Trump "passionately," gloating about the upcoming end of his term, and calling the former president's allegations of voter fraud "crazy" while defending them at the antenna. Earlier this month, Trump gave a lengthy interview to Tucker Carlson, in which the former president lashed out at Democrats and the media.

Shortly after the announcement of Tucker Carlson's departure, host Don Lemon announced on Twitter that he had been notified of his dismissal from CNN, after seventeen years on this channel, a Fox competitor and close to the Democratic Party. . Don Lemon was the subject of controversy a few weeks ago after declaring on the air that Republican candidate Nikki Haley "was no longer in the prime of life", which had led to him being suspended from his morning show for a few days.